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Indicators of economic decline
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2007-36
Monday September 10th - Sunday September 16th 2007
September 20, 2007

Almost all the 71 stories the government media carried highlighting economic decline did not give a comprehensive picture of the crisis. Of these, 43 appeared on ZBC and the rest (28) in the government papers. The reports neither measured the impact of the economic problems on the people nor explained how and when the authorities would deal with them. Instead, they just regurgitated official rhetoric promising action or blaming those outside government for the crisis. For example, Spot FM (16/9, 1pm) quoted Price Monitoring and Stabilisation Taskforce deputy chairman Elliot Manyika blaming manufactures for "starving the market" of goods by "diverting" them to the black market or exporting them without linking the shortages to government's price slash exercise. No comment was sought from business.

Such docility also characterised the station's earlier coverage of commodity shortages in Gutu (11/9, 1pm). It reported on empty shelves in the area in isolation of government's price blitz on business. Despite depicting an economy in turmoil, the government media projected government as in control of the situation. For example, The Herald (10/9) quoted Information Deputy Minister Bright Matonga claiming government was "aware and doing its best to avert the current transport problems and food shortages" without asking how it was doing that. Similarly, there was no attempt to examine government's financial and management capacity to introduce "people shops" nationwide "to make it easy for communities, particularly rural folks, to access goods", especially in light of their well-documented failure to run the many companies under it (The Herald 12/9)

The government media also dodged linking the root causes of the economic malaise to government's poor policies such as its fast-tracked land reforms. It was against this backdrop that The Herald (12/9) merely reported that stock-feed concern Agrifoods was operating at a very low capacity over the past two years due to raw materials shortage.

Equally, there was no informed coverage on current and planned job boycotts against the galloping cost of living. The Chronicle (13/9), for instance, did not provide logistics on the strike by workers at the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) except that they were demanding a 5 000 percent pay rise. Further, it did not explain when the strike started or measured how it had affected the country's border posts. And instead of proactively reporting on the planned strikes by teachers and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the Chronicle carried reaction stories dismissing such action. These included: "Workers must kick out ZCTU leaders" (12/9) and "ZCTU blasted over strike call" (14/9). Notably, ZBC totally ignored the issues.

The voice distribution of the government media are shown in Figs 5 and 6.

Fig 5: Voice distribution on ZBC

Fig 6: Voice distribution in government Press

While the official media masked the catastrophic effects of the economic freefall and its root causes, the private media candidly exposed these in 63 stories they carried on the topic: private electronic media (20) and private papers (43). They also highlighted increased labour disquiet over some of government's economic policies. These included a strike by Zimra workers and planned protests by teachers and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions against government's wage freeze. In fact, The Zimbabwean (13/9) reported that the army and police had been put on alert ahead of the proposed industrial actions, coupled with war veterans' agitation for "massive" pay hikes.

In addition, The Financial Gazette reported on the chaos at border posts caused by the Zimra strike, saying the job boycott could have cost the parastatal $1 trillion in revenue alone on the first day while New Zimbabwe.com (12/9) alleged that more than hundred workers had quit ZBC in the past nine months alone due to poor pay. The Zimbabwe Times (13/9) reported discontent in the police over the same poor working conditions.

The private media continued to highlight the negative effects of government's prize blitz. The Zimbabwe Independent (14/9), for example, reported that Edgars stores was closing down 19 of its 55 branches due to viability problems "directly" linked to the blitz, throwing 220 workers out of employment. Earlier, The Zimbabwe Times (13/9) cited Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi admitting that government's price control exercise was "chaotic".

Figs 7 and 8 show voice distribution of the private media.

Fig 7: Voice distribution in the private electronic media

Fig 8: Voice distribution in the private Press

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